Contreras Steps Up to Top Newspaper Role at Scripps

Contreras Steps Up to Top Newspaper Role at Scripps

CINCINNATI, March 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mark G. Contreras, who helped The E. W. Scripps Company emerge as one of the industry's top- performing newspaper publishers in 2005, has been named a senior vice president of the company, effective immediately.

Contreras will oversee the operation and strategic direction of the Scripps newspaper division, which includes 28 daily and community newspapers, innovative Web-based information services and other related businesses.

"Mark Contreras is an energetic, intelligent and resourceful executive who thoroughly understands the competitive challenges and opportunities that newspapers are facing today," said Kenneth W. Lowe, president and chief executive officer for Scripps. "His passion for the newspaper business and his unwillingness to settle for anything less than financial success and editorial excellence is evident in the industry-leading performance of our newspaper group."

Contreras, 44, joined Scripps in January 2005 as vice president of newspaper operations, coming to the company after serving five years as a senior vice president for Pulitzer Newspapers Inc.

At Pulitzer, Contreras, had responsibilities for Pulitzer Newspapers Inc. and Pulitzer's 50 percent interest in the Tucson Newspaper Agency. Pulitzer Newspapers Inc. was headquartered in St. Louis and operated 12 daily newspapers, 65 weeklies and shoppers and several e-media businesses in eight states. Lee Newspapers acquired Pulitzer in June 2005.

Before joining Pulitzer, Contreras served five years as president and publisher of The Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pa, which was owned by Capital Cities/ABC and later Knight-Ridder.

From 1989 to 1994, Contreras worked at The Kansas City Star, serving four years as metro circulation manager and one year as retail display advertising director. He began his newspaper career in 1988 as marketing services manager for The Oakland Press in Pontiac, Mich. Both were owned by Capital Cities/ABC.

Contreras is a graduate of the Harvard Business School, earning a master's in business administration in 1988. While at Harvard, he worked as a reporter for The Harbus News. He earned a bachelor's degree in history at the University of Chicago. Contreras has completed the advanced executive program at Northwestern University's Newspaper Management Center and was selected by The Aspen Institute as a Henry Crown Fellow.

Contreras is a board member and treasurer for The American Press Institute. He serves on the board of the Newspaper Association of America, where he chairs the Postal Affairs Committee and is a member of the National Association of Minority Media Executives. Contreras is a trustee of the Scripps Howard Foundation.

About Scripps

The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP) is a diverse and growing media enterprise with interests in national cable networks, newspaper publishing, broadcast television stations, electronic commerce, interactive media, and licensing and syndication.

The company's portfolio of media properties includes: Scripps Networks, with such brands as HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network, Fine Living, Great American Country and HGTVPro; daily and community newspapers in 18 markets and the Washington-based Scripps Media Center, home to the Scripps Howard News Service; 10 broadcast TV stations, including six ABC-affiliated stations, three NBC affiliates and one independent; leading online search and comparison shopping services, Shopzilla and uSwitch; United Media, a leading worldwide licensing and syndication company that is the home of PEANUTS, DILBERT and approximately 150 other features and comics; and Shop At Home, which markets a growing range of consumer goods directly to television viewers in roughly 57 million U.S. households and online through shopathometv.com.

Source: The E. W. Scripps Company

CONTACT: Mark Kroeger of The E. W. Scripps Company, +1-513-977-3827, or
mwkroeger@scripps.com

Web site: http://www.scripps.com/

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